"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis

Sunday, December 13, 2015

The Establishment Plot To Insert Paul Ryan As The Republican Party Presidential Nominee

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Few of the growing number of Republicans opposing Trumpf say their opposition is rooted in what's good for the country. It's about what's good for the fucked-up political party they share with him-- albeit uneasily-- that spawned him in the first place. I don't recall ever seeing so many elected officials from a party saying they will not support a candidate if he's their party's official nominee. Miami-Dade walking dead freshman Carlos Curbelo comes right out and says he "wouldn’t support Donald Trump for president if he were our nominee. I would support any reasonable idea to find a better nominee." That's the brokered convention idea we've been talking about for the past two days in which the GOP will seek to thwart their own bigoted, ignorant base and sell them Paul Ryan.Another Florida Congressman, David Jolly, who represents the Pinellas County district but finds it too blue-leaning now and is giving it up to run for the Rubio Senate seat, said that he has "broad disagreement with Donald Trump. If he is our nominee, I think he loses, I think Republicans lose the Senate. He puts the House at risk and sends the party into the wilderness for the next decade... If there is a mechanism to make sure somebody other than Donald Trump wins the nomination, I think that is a good thing for Republicans." Again, "good for Republicans." What about America? Do any of them care?Establishment goon, Steve Chabot, who represents a severely gerrymandered district that allows him to win in Cincinnati-- remember Obama beat Romney in Hamilton County 208,508 (52%) to 188,653 (47%) and Sherrod Brown beat Josh Mandel there 208,611 (53%) to 171,718 (44%), while the state legislature redrew the district to include blood red/all white Warren County northeast of the city, where Romney took 69% and Mandel took 65%-- thinks the GOP establishment can trick the idiot Trumpf followers. He advocates feigning "respect" for them while doing what the establishment feels is best for the party. "Whatever it is that makes that more likely to happen, I’m for it. I don’t know if it’s a brokered convention or not. But it would be unrealistic for us not to at least have that in the back of our minds that that is a distinct possibility this time."Many of the Republicans in Congress-- Chabot and Luke Messer (R-IN) are two examples-- are already laying the groundwork for what amounts to an Establishment coup d'etat against their own base in favor of Ryan. The editorial board of Ryan's hometown newspaper, the Janesville Gazette was setting it up Friday, much the way establishment editorial boards will be doing all over the country:

If Donald Trump defects and runs as an independent because leading Republicans won't accept this egomaniac as their presidential nominee, so be it.The sooner the better.So far, he has denigrated women, Hispanics and those with disabilities. On Monday, he fanned the flames of fear in suggesting we ban Muslims from entering our country.Let's see, are we missing anyone? Is there any group Trump hasn't disparaged?Seemingly every time he opens his mouth, he stoops to a new low, and his poll numbers rise. Too many Americans who are fed up with politics as usual and Washington gridlock appreciate Trump as the ultimate outsider, the anti-establishment candidate who's willing to say what's on his mind, regardless the law or consequences. It matters not whether he can unilaterally act and fulfill his promises. It's disturbing that Trump's hateful positions are embraced by so many.New polls show Trump is backed by twice as many Republican voters as his nearest competitors. Yet every fresh statement from this bombastic “carnival barker”-- as one Gazette letter writer put it this week-- leaves Republicans one step closer to handing Hillary Clinton the keys to the White House. That's because Trump's comments further cast Republicans as an exclusive rather than inclusive party.Republicans can blame themselves. Other candidates, feeling poll envy, have been too tempted to join in this rhetorical cesspool, this caldron of poor taste in which Trump says whatever outrageous thing will fuel media and public attention, regardless of accuracy and credibility.Blame the national media for playing into Trump's hands. As Charles Haynes of the Religious Freedom Center pointed out in a column in Thursday's Gazette, CNN makes “breaking news” of every Trump move and comment. Trump gets more airtime on network evening news programs than the entire Democratic field.Into this fray steps a voice of relative reason in House Speaker Paul Ryan of Janesville. On Tuesday, he urged fellow Republicans to steer clear of Trump's Muslim message.

...If anyone can unite and save the Republican Party, it might be Ryan. While he didn't want the speaker's role, he answered the call to duty. And while he has taken a tough tone with President Obama, in a few short weeks he also has forged bipartisanship too seldom seen in Washington. He helped usher through a five-year transportation bill and a replacement for the No Child Left Behind education law.On Dec. 3, in his first major address as speaker, Ryan again advocated conservative, free-market solutions to America's ills. He pledged to craft a plan “to replace every word of Obamacare,” as well as rewrite and simplify the tax code and propose a “bold, pro-growth agenda.”If only presidential candidates would follow Ryan's lead and outline a meaningful and constructive reform agenda rather than join Trump in verbal assaults and the rhetorical gutter, the GOP might have a chance to win next November.

This morning on ABC-TV's This Week, Dr. Ben reiterated that if the party bosses try to fix the convention in favor of an insider-- no one is mentioning the beloved Ryan by name you'll notice-- he would quit the Republican race. Asked about the GOP establishment's brokered convention plot, he said "one of the reasons that I got into this is because I heard the frustration in the people who are so tired of back-room deals, of subterfuge, of dishonesty... if that is the case, then you know I’m out of here."

If, as many Republicans believe, Trumpf is a Bill Clinton false flag operation, the Clintons may well be hoist on their own petard by Hillary winding up having to run against Ryan. Of course the newest polling from Iowa could put a spanner in the Republican establishment's plans to insert Ryan as the candidate without him having to compete for the lunatic fringe base voters. I kind of think Cruz would be able to make mincemeat out of Ryan if this whole thing doesn't get shut down.